Throw in my own answers for fun!
Cannot change the font? -Not sure but I'm gonna try since the above user says yes!
Is hard to read in the sunlight? -Not when the brightness is cranked.
Can’t save sounds from card to ringer? -Not true. You can, I have.
Does not have a low battery display? -Do you mean as an LED? If so, true. There are no notification LEDs on the Charge.
Does not have a camera button? -True
Too many preinstalled applications that you can’t remove? -True of any phone you buy on a carrier.
Can’t copy and paste things from online? -False, also, browser dependent
Does not have enough internal memory for applications? -False. I've always got sufficient left-over RAM, even when I'm multi-tasking.
Does not have led light to notify user of missed emails messages or phone calls? -True
Really only has 328 mb ram? -True and False. It has 512. 328 Usable, the rest is dedicated to the OS/CPU. I haven't found myself running out yet and the Android OS is designed to close dormant apps when RAM is needed. I have never seen mine go over 250Mb of used RAM.
Is flimsily built? -False. It's made of plastic, but it seems sturdy enough. It doesn't twist, bend, or creak when I exert force on it and the buttons are responsive and feel solid.
Is not instant on emails? -Has been instant for me.
Cannot copy/paste from SMS to a contact or email? -False
Are there any specific applications that will void the warranty? -Not that I know of, but I guess it's possible. There are like 80,000 apps on the market alone.
What are roots/kernels? -Rooting is the process of giving yourself admin-level access to the phone's OS. Think of an unrooted phone as a guest account on a Windows operating system. You can use pretty much anything, but you are locked out of more system level control. Rooting makes you the "super user" allowing you to change pretty much anything, including uninstalling all of that bloatware phones usually ship with.
I am not as familiar with Kernals, but from what I understand it's mostly used for custom ROMs and/or overclocking the CPU/GPU by giving a skilled hacker/dev the ability to directly control the relationship between software and hardware. It's not something you do through settings, it's something you install after rooting that completely re-writes the way your phone behaves. They usually go hand-in-hand with custom ROMs, which you can read about here:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2010/05/01/custom-roms-for-android-explained-and-why-you-want-them/
Think of it this way. You buy a computer at Best Buy and it comes pre-installed with 500 programs that you never heard of, don't want, and aren't going to use. Now on a PC you could just uninstall the crap you don't want. It's the same with smartphones, only the carriers (verizon, ATT) often have a hand in all of their crapware they demand the manufacturer install on the phone, and therefore block the user from uninstalling them. That's where rooting comes into play. You give yourself "admin" access and then have free reign to do what you want with all of the software on your phone.
As for ROMs/Kernals... best analogy I can think of is to compare it to re-formatting your Windows XP computer and installing Windows 7. Devs out there, like the guy who makes CyanogenMod, take the basic Android OS and work on improving it in every way they can. They make it faster, more efficient, and more feature rich. Android is an open platform, meaning anyone can take it, and assuming they have the knowledge, can modify it however they want. The link I provided does a better job of explaining the advantages of custom ROMs.
What are the launcher programs that people have been discussing? -Launchers are basically the UI shell that you interact with to control the Android OS. When you hear people talking about HTC Sense or Samsung Touchwiz or Motorola MotoBlur, they are talking about the launchers. Manufacturers make their own UI skins and icons to put on their phones. That's why Android phones from different manufactures often look very different. While they all share the same basic features, different launchers have different functionality/design.
If manufacturers didn't install custom UIs and overlays every single phone on the shelf would look and function exactly the same. They believe they need to install these in order to set themselves apart from the competition. Look of Android "Fragmentation" for why people think this is a bad idea. They don't think they can rely on hardware to sell their phones because your average customer doesn't understand the underlying technology. A customer needs to be able to look at a phone and tell it apart from the next one. As you may know, most Android users have their favorites and least favorite overlays.
Personally I believe every manufacturer should ship with stock Android and let the users customize it to their pleasure, and promise that every Android phone gets the latest Android updates when they are released. That's an argument for another day, though.
When people talk about a phone shipping with "Stock Gingerbread" or "Stock Froyo" or whatever it is, it means the phone manufacturer doesn't install custom UI/Icons. Very few phones ship like this. The Nexus S is a good example of a "pure" Android phone. As you can see in the pictures below, the Touchwiz dock and icons are much different than the stock gingerbread dock and icons.
Stock Gingerbread :
Samsung Touchwiz:
The issue is the manufacturers sometimes drop the ball on their own launchers. The Touchwiz launcher on the Charge is notoriously choppy when sliding between home screens. Go Launcher on the other hand is smooth as butter. Basically what that means is that Touchwiz is slowing down your phone, making it poorly designed. Some Launchers however are revered by the Android community. HTC Sense comes to mind. Most of what I read about that is it's beloved by experienced Android customers.
Third party launchers, such as go launcher, basically replace the stock UI on your phone and often provide much much greater customization and functionality options than a stock launcher. Go Launcher lets you install and use your own Icons, completely customize what buttons are on the dock, and does about 100 other things I can't remember.
The best thing about Launchers is they don't require root or hacking of any kind. The Android OS supports the option to set your own Launcher out of the box.
